Billy Robinson
| birth_place = United Kingdom | death_date = | death_place = Little Rock, Arkansas | resides = | billed = | trainer = Billy Riley | debut = 1955 | retired = 1992 }} Billy Robinson (September 18, 1939 – March 3, 2014) was a British professional wrestler who is widely regarded in Britain, American and Japan as one of the top wrestlers in the history of wrestling. Wrestling career As an amaruter wrestler he achieved notable success when he won the 1957 British Nation Wrestling Championship and the 1958 European Open Wrestling Championship at the light Heavyweight Class, defeating an Olympic Bronze medalist in the finals. Looking to turn professional Robinson joined Billy Riley's dreaded Snake Pit and endured a tough life under the tutaledge of Riley and his staff for eight years. In the 1960s he firmly established himself on the British circuits as one of, is not the best of the best wrestlers around. He was the golden boy of British Heavyweight and one of a number of those great wrestlers to come out of Wigan. Of his contemporaries (the likes of Geoff Portz, Georgios Gordienko and Billy Joyce) there were few who could beat him and none who could match him technical skill. There was little doubt he would be British Heavyweight Champion before long and indeed he lived up to the expectations when he captured the Title on January 18, 1967 from Billy Joyce and would hold it for slightly over three years before he vacated the title so that he could travel to America and join the AWA. He returned shortly in 1971 to collect his belonging and some of his family and performed in a one-off match against rising star Kendo Nagasaki. In the AWA he established himself as one of the best wrestlers in a promotion known for hiring great wrestlers. In the AWA captured numerous Tag Team Titles and held hold the AWA British Empire Heavyweight Title three times. While with the AWA he also travelled to Japan and Canada and became a major success in those areas, winning the Stampede North American Heavyweight Title and the IWA Heavyweight Title in Japan and Australia. He also had a legendary match agains Antonia Inoki that was billed as "The Match Between the Worlds Top Two Technicians". He also made his name as a Catch Wrestling icon as along with Karl Gotch he branched out into the world of Mixed Martial Arts. He became a major influence in the "Shoot" style of wrestling and has trained in the UWF Snake Pit as well as training several Mixed Martial Arts legends such as Kazushi Sakuraba and Josh Barnett and is still training new talent today. Finishing and Signature Moves *Bridging Double Underhood Suplex *Abdominal Stretch *Backbreaker *Back Suplex Backbreaker *Bear Hug/Hammerlock Combination *European Uppercut *Piledriver *Single Arm DDT Notable Feuds *Nick Bockwinkle *Vern Gagne *Antonio Inoki Trained By *Billy Riley Wrestlers Trained *Ric Flair *Buddy Rose *James Maritato *Johnny Saint Championships and accomplishments *European Mid-Heavyweigth Title - (August ?, 1961) *British Heavyweight Title - defeating Billy Joyce (January 18, 1967) IWA Japan *(1)World Heavyweight Title - defeating Toyonobor1 in a tournament (December 19, 1968) *(2)World Heavyweight Title - defeating Great Kusatsu in a tournament (June 3, 1974) IWA Australia *World Heavyweight Title - defeating Killer Karl Kox (October 31, 1969) Stampede Wrestling *North American Heavyweigth Title - defeating Abdullah the Butcher (February 20, 1970) AWA *(1)World Tag Team Titles - with Ed Francis defeating Ray Stevens and Nick Bockwinkle (July 21, 1972) *(2)World Tag Team Titles - with Vern Gagne defeating Ray Stevens and Nick Bockwinkle (December 30, 1972) *(3)World Tag Team Titles - with Crusher Lisowski defeating Ray Stevens and Nick Bockwinkle (July 21, 1974) *(1)British Empire Heavyweigth Title - defeating Angelo Mosca (May 18, 1978) *(2)British Empire Heavyweight Title - defeating Super Destroyer Mark II (November 12, 1979) *(1)Southern Tag Team Titles - with Ken Lucas defeating The Assasins (February 17, 1980) *(2)Southern Tag Team Titles - with Ken Lucas defeating The Assasins (March 2, 1980) *(3)Southern Tag Team Titles - with Ken Lucas defeating Sheik Al Hassas and Paul Ellering (April ?, 1980) NWA *(Florida) Southern Heavyweight Title - defeating Masked Destroyer (December 20, 1975) *(Tri-State) United States Tag Team Titles - with Bill Watts defeating Ken Patera and Killer Karl Kox (?, 1976) *(All Japan) United National Heavyweight Title - defeating Jumbo Tsuruta (March 5, 1977) PWF Japan *World Heavyweight Title - defeating Tor Kamata (June 12, 1978) CWA Memphis *(1) World Heavyweight Title - defeating The Superstar (April 28, 1980) *(2) World Heavyweight Title - defeating Bill Dundee (August 11, 1980) *(3) World Heavyweight Title - defeating Bobby Eaton (November 14, 1980) IWA Montreal *(1) International Heavyweigth Title - defeating Rick Martel (November ?, 1982) *(2) International Heavyweight Title - defeating The Destroyer (?, 1983) *International Tag Team Titles - with Pierre Lefebvre defeating Tony Parisi and Gino Brito (May 23, 1983) Other *George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (2003) External links * Profile Category:English wrestlers Category:British wrestlers Category:All Japan Pro Wrestling alumni Category:American Wrestling Association alumni Category:Championship Wrestling From Florida alumni Category:Continental Wrestling Association alumni Category:Lutte Internationale alumni Category:New Japan Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Stampede Wrestling alumni Category:Universal Wrestling Federation alumni Category:World Championship Wrestling alumni Category:George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Category:1939 births Category:1955 debuts Category:1992 retirements Category:2014 deaths Category:Wrestlers who have died Category:AWA World Tag Team Champions Category:International Wrestling alumni Category:International Wrestling Enterprise alumni Category:Jim Crockett Promotions alumni Category:Joint Promotions alumni Category:Maple Leaf Wrestling alumni Category:National Wrestling Alliance alumni Category:NWA All-Star Wrestling alumni Category:NWA Big Time Wrestling alumni Category:St. Louis Wrestling Club alumni Category:Superstars Of Wrestling alumni Category:Union of Wrestling Forces International alumni Category:Universal Wrestling Association alumni Category:World Wrestling Entertainment alumni Category:Male wrestlers Category:Professional wrestling trainers